The rest of the braces story

When the braces or Invisalign® come off and you feel the smoothly aligned teeth against your lips and tongue, your braces story is not truly over. This is just the beginning of the next stage to a straight smile … retention.

We trust that you’re with us when we say you’ve come so far and it’d be a shame to lose the ground you’ve gained toward a straight smile. You may have spent years in braces or Invisalign, but we want those benefits to last a lifetime.

The truth is that your teeth did not come in this straight. It’s likely that they will continue to feel the urge to move or even revert back to incorrect spacing. Your teeth are not anchored to the bone and they will always respond to any force applied to them. They can be affected by the tongue lips, cheeks, and muscles of the face and mouth.

Through orthodontic retention, we try to control as many of these forces as possible for 24 months or even longer. Many people are candidates for retention appliances including removable retainers, clear retainers, bonded retainers, or even a lower lingual holding arch. Removable retainers are made of metal wires and acrylic and are cast from the impressions of your newly aligned teeth. Clear retainers are similar to Invisalign trays and are less obtrusive to your everyday smile. Bonded retainers are often hidden from view by being mounted from the inside surface of your teeth. Similarly, a lower lingual holding arch is a fixed space maintainer that consists of two metal bands attached to the lower first molars with a wire running along the inside of the lower teeth.

The newest technology in orthodontic retention is Vivera ® using an iTero® scanning system. Whether you’ve used Invisalign or traditional braces, you can benefit from Vivera retainers. Vivera retainers are custom-made for you with the same state-of-the-art technology used to make Invisalign aligners. Because the retainers are custom-made from a digital scan of your teeth, you will benefit from a more precise and more comfortable fit. Your smile is digitally scanned (no gooey impression), stored in a computer file, and 8 retainers (4 sets) are fabricated out of an advanced clear plastic. These will last for years and years but if you would ever need more retainers, the original 3-D digital record of your just finished, straight smile is used to make new retainers to keep your smile perfect.

Dental movement and displacement is expected as years go by both without and with orthodontic retention devices. We do our best to predict the movement and maintain your best smile. Let’s put together a plan for your Invisalign or braces and proper retention. Dr. Blattner and Dr. Heberer are general dentists who have straightened smiles for over 65 years, so you’ll know that you’re in good hands with SmilesRForever Dentistry.